Sandro Botticelli

Lore & Background

Botticelli was born in Florence in the Borgo Ognissanti neighborhood, the youngest of four surviving children of tanner Mariano di Vanni d'Amedeo Filipepi and Smeralda Filipepi. His father later became a gold-beater, and Botticelli was initially trained as a goldsmith. The nickname 'Botticelli,' meaning 'little barrel,' came from his brother Giovanni's round stature. From around 1461 or 1462, Botticelli was apprenticed to Fra Filippo Lippi, learning to create intimate compositions with melancholic figures and clear contours. He likely had his own workshop by 1469, when he was commissioned a panel of Fortitude for a set of the Seven Virtues. In 1472, he took on his first apprentice, Filippino Lippi, and the two often collaborated.

Reader's Guide

Botticelli's career spanned the latter half of the Italian Renaissance, yet his style is often described as more Gothic or archaic compared to the High Renaissance. His best-known works, The Birth of Venus and Primavera, both in the Uffizi in Florence, exemplify his mythological subjects. He also painted many religious works, including dozens of Madonna and Child renditions, often in tondo shape. Only one of his paintings, the Mystic Nativity (1501), bears a date, but archival records allow scholars to trace his stylistic development. The 1480s were his most successful decade, producing large mythological paintings and famous Madonnas. By the 1490s, his style became more personal and mannered, moving away from the emerging High Renaissance style of Leonardo da Vinci. His last works show a return to a more Gothic or 'archaic' style. Rediscovered in the late 19th century by the Pre-Raphaelites, Botticelli's linear grace and melancholic figures have since secured his place as a key figure in art history.

Did You Know?

• Botticelli lived all his life in the same Florence neighborhood and was buried in his local church, Ognissanti.
• He painted in Pisa in 1474 and in the Sistine Chapel in Rome in 1481–82, his only significant times outside Florence.
• Only one of his paintings, the Mystic Nativity, is inscribed with a date (1501).
• His family's neighbors included the Vespucci family, of whom Amerigo Vespucci was a member.